Gilguga
by WeSketchLife
Summary: .
1. Intro

**Intro**

My name is Gilguga and I was born to my mother, Maritill, on a cold spring night in her wagon. My name, though harsh and kind of guttural to pronounce, actually means 'my one true love' in a long forgotten language.

My mother always gets confused as to where's that exactly was when she was giving birth to me on that night, but she had remembered it was cold and that the next day was all warm and sunny.

And so I was born on no land, country or nation to call my home. Which was fine, the wagon was my home. It was just me, my mother and our horse, named Marls. I loved Marls, still do.

I was my mother's first child, so she did have some trouble raising me on her own. My father had apparently been a soldier – they had only spent one night together, my mother gone in the early morning. From where my father had been, my mother had not cared to know.

"I knew he was a man and I a woman and that I wanted him, that was enough." She had told me often, and then proceeded to pinch my cheeks and kiss my head, calling me the 'gift that came after'.

My mother had been a songstress, you know the kind, the kind men remembered and women hated. She could sway crowds with her music and sing songs of olden days and new. My mother was like a dream.

I myself wasn't really gifted with my mother's angelic voice or talented musical fingers, nor did I look like her that much at all. Not in my opinion at least.

Nonetheless, we'd be singing and laughing together as we traveled from village to village, town to town, city to city and from country to country. A simple lighthearted life, with sunshine on our faces and flowers in our hair.

Of course there were some lesser times, times when my mother had to spare her voice or couldn't find anywhere to perform and we had to do other work. Whenever that happened we stayed in one place for longer than a few days, working the fields or serving the drinks in taverns. Once we stayed so long in a place I actually made a friend, Matthew Hunbie. My mother found work in an apple acres that belonged to Matthew's family. I was six and Matthew had been five and he had been quiet, but funny and sweet. I really had liked Matthew. My mother had really liked Matthew's father. You could imagine how that went.

They were good times and treasured memories.

After that my mother and I joined a circus, which made life easier if not...crowded. Growing up in a circus might seem amazing, but it really wasn't. It was hard work.

I tried multiple acts to see where I fitted in, but never really found my talent amongst the talented.

So I took care of the horses, children, washing clothes and the like. Of course my mother would often complain to me that my "gifts" were being wasted, but I couldn't even begin to wonder what "gifts" she was talking about. By this time my mother had become pregnant again, when I myself was fourteen. The pregnancy had been such a struggle for her, that she became very ill and we could no longer keep up with the circus, so we stayed behind.

Finding someone, anyone, to help was the most frustrated and desperate I had been my entire life. I was absolutely terrified of losing my mother. She was all I had.

Finally, after three days of asking around, I heard of a healer in another town. I managed to convince the healer to help my mother and so she did.

It was the first time I saw what real magic could do.

The healer, Innid, told me I had the potential to become a mage, though probably in a different field, but it had me reeling with excitement.

She told me that if I ever wanted to learn, there were plenty of guilds to choose from where she studied.

Again, I couldn't sleep that night. Not because of the fear that my mother would die, but because I actually considered asking to go study at Innid's mage guild.

Come morning, when my mother had enough energy to walk around, she told me how grateful she was to have me with her this time. To not be alone this time, how happy we would be as a family of three, four if we counted Marls.

I couldn't bring myself to tell her what I wanted. I was good with children after all and mother could use my help when she had to work and...and I was afraid.

So the very next moment, we sat of to rejoin the circus, where about three weeks later, my little sister Tervia was born.

I remembered where, I even left a mark on a big old oak tree, so I could show her when she was older. I would tell her she was born during the fall on a clear morning, when all the leafs in the trees had fallen down and were copper, red or bright yellow.

After that, I spend most of my time either doing chores for the circus or watching over Tervia, thoughts of joining any mage guild in the far back of my mind.

Then the great war happened, that raged over all across Valoran for many years, which caused our circus to disband and go their separate ways. During that time it was really hard to get by through any means, since the common folk didn't have any coin to spare on entertainment and farms were either burned to ground or turned into battlefields.

It was the first time I ever stole something, but we had to eat. My mother would scowl me, not for stealing, but for taking a risk. We, as strangers to tightly knit villages and towns, were a pariah of sorts and easily suspected of anything.

Of course she was right and then one day the folk of the town we were in started blaming all sort of nasty things on us. We hadn't done anything, apart from the few times I had stolen something. But they weren't accusing us of that. Apparently, we were the cause of all of their misfortunes in life.

Whenever this happened, we were gone by next light. We never stayed in city's anymore, for they had walls that could lock us in if they wanted to do worse then accusing falsehoods.

Those were horrible days, truly awful.

It was a time when I discovered something crucial about the nomadic life – if you had no place to call home, you had no home to protect you. It was as simple as that.

Even if my wagon was my home, the wagon wasn't a village with tons of people in it who knew you and trusted you. At that point I really missed the circus and the very odd make shift family we had.

I shared these thoughts and worries with my mother, when we were heading up north, who in turn held my hand and squeezed it tightly. She told me that as soon as the war was over, we could have such a simple life. Stay in one place, make friends and enemies out of neighbors. We could have our own tavern or farm or shop or whatever we wanted.

And then the great war ended and the Institute of War was formed at the very heart of Valoran. The sudden peace was so shocking I think the world could barely comprehend it.

My mother decided we would go there and stay there. The city that surrounds the Institute and its stadium right now, was build by people like my mother who all traveled there to start a new life. So it didn't matter no one knew you, nobody did.

We were very fortunate to be one of the first people to settle there. We opened our own tavern, filled it with good food, drinks and music, if I do say so myself.

After a good few years of this, with the Institute established and everything, Innid walked into the tavern royally starved and exhausted. When I saw her, the desire I had put away came crashing back. I was surprised that she recognized me right away.

As I found out, she was a summoner, being assigned the role of a support. By then everyone already knew that support summoners were too few and far between and the institute had trouble dispersing them equally among the teams.

I owed Innid my mother's life and I still wanted to learn how to do magic, so I asked if there was a way for me to become a summoner myself, specializing in the support role.

I think Innid had wanted to kiss me that evening, but I wasn't sure.


	2. Chapter 1

**1.**

Gilguga's eyes were heavy, stuck together and pasty. It took her several tries to keep them open and adjust to the light pouring in from the open window.

Though she laid warm and comfortably, this wasn't her own bed, nor her room. Behind her, a man was still sleeping. For a moment she tried to remember his name, but instead she remembered she had things to do and places to be.

Gilguga gently lifted the heavy arm off of her and got up. Stretching and yawning, trying to get the stiffness out of her tired limps. She found her clothes, scattered across the room, and got dressed. All the while, her bed mate was still snoozing away, but Gilguga paid him no mind. She was hungry and wondered what she wanted to eat.

Without another look to the still sleeping man, Gilguga closed the door behind her and absentmindedly walked out of the small wooden house. Outside, Gilguga was greeted with a wash of summer heat and a bad smelling alleyway. The street wasn't much better – it was crowded and people were shouting.

This was where she decided to climb onto the nearest roof and make her way home above the crowd. It wasn't really a hard thing to do, considering the density between the haphazardly build houses and shops. The streets were small and the alleyways slim. The closer you were to the gigantic Dome, the more jam-packed the city became.

Gilguga couldn't agree with people who were intimidated by the Institutes enormous structure. She had seen mountains that were bigger and climbed them despite there size. Not that she didn't understand why it should intimidate her, she just couldn't feel it that way. Yes, the building could block out the sun and cast an even bigger shadow over half the city it sat in. Gilguga snorted. It was all about symbolism and the thought behind the object that intimidated common folk.

She jumped over another small alley, startling someone beneath her, but she ignored their shouts. She made her way down onto a busy market street and smelled the warmth of food in the air.

Gilguga made her way over to the food-stand, hungrier than she'd thought she ought to be at this time of day. Than she remembered she hadn't really eating last night and before that she had been working all day.

Gilguga paid the fat merchant woman and took a big bite out of the soft sweet honey bread. The young woman swooned and her taste-buds danced. What a glorious thing to satisfy ones hunger.

Than an arm clasped around her neck and Gilguga choked on her delight.

"I knew I would find you here."

The tall white-blond woman started messing up Gilguga's already messy hair with her fist. "Where in the four hell's have you been? Do you know who has been filling in for you until now? You lazy bum?"

"Innid! Letgo!Letgo!Letgo!"

Innid did not stop, in fact her fist started to grind faster against Gilguga's skull.

"You'd have me workin' double this morning, how will you repay me this time?"

Gilguga held up one of the honey breads.

Innid took it and let go. "That's a start."

"And you claim you're not a savage..." Gilguga punched her chest a couple of times to get the food go down.

"If I were I would've chopped your head off. You owe me big time." Innid munched thoughtfully on the honey bread, not having such a sweettooth like Gilguga did. "Again. So, who did you sleep with this time?"

"Dunno."

The two women started walking toward the huge dome.

"One day you'll regret you're whorish behavior."

Gilguga shrugged.

"Maybe, but than again, I don't understand what the problem is with having lots of sex."

"With different men."

"With different men."

"Possibly for money..."

"Nope." Gilguga finished her honey bread and licked her fingers from the leftover glaze. "Just the regular ol' exchange of pleasure."

"You'll get pregnant this time." Innid's look was one of impeding doom.

"Mebby."

Innid groaned. "I will truly never understand how you can be so lackluster about these things!"

Gilguga shrugged, thinking the same about how people could get so worked up over it. They turned onto the main road that headed straight at the dome, with even more people, carriages with important people and soldiers trailing in front or behind them. Gilguga still didn't like the large amount of people pressed together like a school of fish. People were always louder than they thought they were and they never seemed to listen to each other, always yapping at each other as if not hearing a single word another was saying. Crowds like these always seemed to make her feel dizzy.

"So, what'll be my schedule?"

"The entire day tomorrow, so make sure to get your arse out of bed at dawn, you understand?"

Gilguga winked and snapped her finger at Innid. "Ass-crack of dawn, got'cha."

"Ugh, you sound like that moron..."

Gilguga shrugged.

After about twenty minutes later, they got to the first gate infront of the bridge that crossed the moat to the second gate to enter the Dome. This was basically a back entrance that led them immediately to the summoner dorms.

"Afta'noon Lady Gilguga, Innid." The front guard greeted Gilguga with a bright smile. Gilguga already knew of his desire, but couldn't meet his with her own. He simply did not attract her. But she smiled brightly at him anyway.

"Hiya, Berald, hows it going?"

Berald shrugged. He had them show their spellbound tattoo's, that only showed when called for. Innid had tried to explain the exact science behind this magic, but Gilguga only understood the basis of magic as of yet and could only asses that this was some special kind of magic and so anyone else would be unable to replicate.

The two women crossed the bridge and entered the Dome.

* * *

"Thank you for your hard work today, summoner." Soraka said after the match was over.

Gilguga nodded. She had worked the entire day in Innid's stead and was exhausted because of it.

"Will you too be reconsidering your Alliances?"

Ah, this again. With the summer season coming to an end, the time where teams were being disbanded and reformed started. Or as Gilguga liked to call it the 'Support Hunting Season'.

Ever since the League started, the Institute had trouble dispersing support summoners efficiently among the teams.

The whole idea of the teams was that they would pledge allegiances to their chosen nations, tribes, kingdoms, and individuals for an entire year and disband after the summer championship was over where all the political strive would be solved on the battlefield (aka, the Fields of Justice).

The champions would fight battles despite their background or beliefs, regulated and controlled by summoners who would ensure a "fair and impartial match".

Of course that wasn't the case and there was a lot at fault with the system the Institute came up with. It was a struggle for them to maintain the order they had created. Bribes and shifts in alliances were common place, but despite all that, the league was, at the moment, the much more preferred option than an actual all out war. Everyone was still licking their wounds from the last one that nearly destroyed all of Valoran. So the nations played along for now.

The most difficult part was the aforementioned dispersing of support summoners. As a summoner you needed to be able to synchronize with a champion mentally, spiritually and their type of magic to summon them. If one of the three wasn't lined up the way it should be, the synchronization failed and summoning the champion you choose would be impossible. Summoning in general costs a lot of energy and drained a single summoner completely of their magical aptitude and stamina. So it took a lot of training to build up that kind of energy and not waste it in fruitless attempts to synchronize with champions that wouldn't align with you anyway, considering their often extreme personalities.

Gilguga had often heard of summoners go "nutty" after a couple of them had tried to summon Syndra, the most power mad mage in all of Valoran.

Not only were there less support champions than assassins, marksmen, bruisers and power hungry mages, most summoners spirits were too competitive to sync with them properly – and most of them didn't have the necessary affinity to healing or shielding magic to begin with.

Gilguga was one of the few who had no trouble syncing up with anyone, for her personality was, just as her affinity for magic, neutral enough to go either way.

But she was still training to learn her own magical abilities, since she hadn't been trained in a guild like Innid had before the Institute came about. So there were many champions she couldn't control properly due to her inexperience with magic.

This had been Gilguga's first year summoning and Soraka had been her main champion until now, and she knew the champion was hoping to have Gilguga pledge to her team and therefor, cause – helping the people in the world, which was admittedly a better cause than most champions, nation or kingdoms had in this entire "competition".

"I don't know, it's too early say." Gilguga replied after a large swig of water.

Soraka, a celestial being with all the time in the world, simply nodded in return. Both she and Gilguga felt the stares of other champions and summoners on them.

Gilguga left along with her team to head back to the summoners hall. She knew it wouldn't take her team long to demand she stay when they would reform their team. Next to Innid and herself, there was only one other support summoner in their team, which was already more than most other teams head. Only Kenneth wasn't a good support summoner, forced into the role by the Institute when he showed the smallest hint of affinity for it, making him almost unbearable to deal with under normal circumstances.

When he team was going their separate ways in the summoners hall to do their own thing, Gilguga was cornered by Rayan, their team captain.

"Are you going to leave us?"

Gilguga shrugged, she was exhausted and really wanted to go home.

"This is important." Rayan urged on. Gilguga had forgotten how intense their team captain could be and right now, it was rubbing her in the wrong way.

"No, me going home to eat and sleep is more important."

"How can you even say that?" Oh, yeah. Demacian…stick the mud types. Gilguga kept forgetting that.

"Because it's the truth, so if you'll excuse me..." She made the attempt to walk around him, but Rayan was a persistent person.

"Just...promise me you'll give me a straight answer at the Ending Festival?"

Gilguga pressed her lips together and then nodded.

"Sure."

She highly doubted she was going to give him the answer he wanted.


	3. Chapter 2

2.

Two men were sitting in a darkly lit room. One was sitting behind a large heavy wooden desk, continuously writing and reading. The other man was sitting in the opposite of the desk, scowling. They were having a rather unpleasant conversation.

"They're all gone."

Swain tipped his quill into the ink. "I know."

"So what are we going to do about it?"

After removing some of the excess ink off his quill, Swain continued writing.

" _You_ are going to have a word with your younger brother, while _I_ will have a word with the Institute yet again requesting replacements."

Darius's jaw clenched, chewing out each word as he spoke.

" _We_ need to take action, other than sit back writing letters while the Institute is taking away everything we fought for piece by piece."

"I _know_."

The two men glared at each other for a moment.

They both knew that neither of them could change their current situation, they both _knew_ they needed to sit out this ride. But neither of them liked the helplessness of it all. It wasn't a Noxian thing to do.

Swain was the first to concede, pinching the bridge of his crooked nose.

" _If_ we do find an opening in our enemy's armor, we will strike relentlessly...but until then, we wait."

" _Fine_."

While Darius resigned his further arguments, Swain continued writing. After a couple more moments, Darius spoke again.

"Have you received word from the Demacian diplomat yet?"

Swain's posture and face changed to one of ultimate displeasure. "Yes," He said, pointing at a stack of documents next to him. "I've been reading their lists of 'political' demands since this morning."

"And?"

Swain had finally, actually, stopped writing and looked Darius straight in the eye.

"Their demands grow expansionary more ludicrous."

The look Swain received had him pluck a document from the top of the stack, an amused twinkle in his eye.

"This one," Swain wiggled the paper. "Says, we are to return the crown of Jarvan the first."

Darius merely blinked.

"The thing that is attached to Sion's jaw?"

"Exactly."

"And you told them they are more than welcome to pry it from his head themselves?"

"Exactly."

Darius still scoffed, unable to do much else. He finally got his feet, his legs stiff from sitting for so long.

"I'm off."

Swain put the document back on the stack and nodded, his eyes yet again glued to the paper he was writing on. Darius left the dark lit room with something like mission.


	4. Chapter 3

3\. 

The summer sun slowly sunk over and behind the great Dome, casting a long shadow over half of the city; the half where Marls Tavern, owned by Gilguga's mother, was.

Marls Tavern was set in the very heart of the north-end of the city. The building itself wasn't very impressive, seemingly being sandwiched by two other larger buildings, a lonely sign hanging above the colorful caravan shaped door. But the narrow hallway gave way to a large open space, with dark wooden tables to match the panels and pillars against the ivory and yellow walls.  
The walk from the Institute to her home was met with the beginnings of a headache.  
With the Championship over, many took to the streets to celebrate their victory, not waiting for the actual festival that would start at the end of the next week.

So Gilguga was faced with people shouting and laughing and singing in the streets, while workers who were busy with the preperations for the festival shouted angrily back. City guards were everywhere too, making sure they looked as intimidating as possible for any troublemakers.  
If she hadn't been summoning all day, she might've had the energy to simply climb a building and avoid them all. But then again, with guards around...ugh, she didn't have the space to _think_.  
To make matters worse, the north-end of the city was a popular place to go out with lots of nightlife entertainment.

So with people in celebration mode, Gilguga opened the doors of Marls tavern and was greeted with a blast of noise. Marl's Tavern was jampacked with people, all of them already drunk or working to get drunk.

Gilguga mind got overwhelmed and she stumbled over the threshold, bumping against chairs and tables until she found a bar-stool to sit on. Regulars who recognized her, smiled at her or gave her drunken pat on her behind. She took little notice of them, her skull feeling as if it was stuck under a bolder. Gilguga leaned over the bar, her head buried in her arms.

"Motherrr..." Her voice was weak and groggy. Her head felt like a war-drum.

Erak, their bartender, turned and looked down at Gilguga with dismay. "Oh, great, you look like sheit, you weird gurl."  
Erak was of Shuriman decent, dark chocolate-colored skin and a clean shaven head with chestnut-colored eyes. Erak was one of the few people Gilguga considered to be family, but then the kind that was like your great-aunt's, great-nieces, grandson kind of family.

When she and her mother were still touring with the circus, Erak had been a stable-boy and four years older than her. He had been calling her 'a weird gurl' ever since they met. They shared a kiss once.

Gilguga groaned at the sound of his voice.

"Yessss..." She answered him.

"Don't you do that." He said sternly. "You know I don't like it, you weird gurl."

"Motherrrr...Erak is lecturing me."

"Maritill is upstairs getting ready, go to the kitchen and don't bother Alix." "Hnnnnn...noooooooo..." Gilguga whined.

Erak served their customers drinks and handed a tray to one of the new barmaids.

"Owh, she dun lok gud?" The maid remarked, glancing at Gilguga curiously.

"Oh, she's got big boobies..." Gilguga muttered, staring back.

"Lissa, mind your own business. And you," Erak said, pointing a finger at Gilguga. "you get off your bum and get out of the way of the actual customers."

Gilguga groaned, her head was feeling too full and heavy. So instead of lifting it, she moved forward and slid over the bar and flopped to the other side, nearly hitting all of the liquor as she went.

Erak cursed at her under his breath and Gilguga let out another whine for her mother. Her head pounded as she got to her feet. Everything and everyone was being way too loud. She had trouble getting from the bar to flap-door of the kitchen, but once she got through, she was greeted by Alix in his usual kind manner.

"FOOK NO! Nut yuu again! Get oot of me fookin' ketchin'!"

"But Erak,-"

"Fook tha' fookin' shooriman barstarrd! Yuu ain't setten' anuther foot here!" Alix turned back and chopped the head off a squirming chicken. Its head fell into a basket of other chicken heads. Alix handed the body to a pale looking boy.

The pale boy then proceeded to hang the chicken's still moving body by its feet on a rope with the other dead chicken. Even with what Alix had shouted, Gilguga went to sit in the corner underneath the stairs, legs against her chest and her head resting on her knees. Despite the sounds of boiling water, slamming of doors and Alix's constant cursing, at least the kitchen was quieter than the merriment that was going on in the tavern.

Alix turned around to see if Gilguga left, only to turn bright red with anger.

"Ar'ya deaff?! Argh!" One of the pans fell to the ground, starteling both the boy as well as Gilguga who groaned pathetically. "Fookin' fook! I dun't have the time tah deal with this sheit! Boy, get me odder knife and clean this oop!" Alix went back to work and the poor boy scared for dear life, got out the mop and bucket clean whatever spilled out of the pan.

Tervia walked in through the backdoor with a basket full of apples in her tiny arms, took one glance at her elder sister and turned to shout toward the staircase Gilguga was hiding under.

"Momma! Gilly is having a headache again!" Gilguga groaned loudly, both hands over her ears. She was going to die, she was sure of it. Suddenly, she turned her pained gaze toward her little sister.

"Yes, you don't have to worry about me, just go on with your chores and I'll make you flatcakes when your done."  
Unlike most people, Tervia was used to this. "Okay." Tervia said and set the basket next to the basket full of chicken heads.

"Like hell, ya'are!" Alix shouted over his shoulder, cutting potato's in half with too much aggression. The young girl disappeared outside again, the door slamming behind her with a loud bang. Gilguga cringed, letting out a pathetic whimper.

Alix growled something heinous again and one of the maids came in to pick up another order, who also got an earful of Alix's awful mood. From above her, Gilguga could hear the sound of her mother's bare feet walk on the floorboards and then again as they climbed down the steps. "Ma'am." Alix muttered quietly.

Maritill looked underneath the staircase, a soft smile on her lips.

"Did you forget your medication again, my love?"

Gilguga didn't have the strength to speak, she only whimpered. Without another word, her mother produced a small bag with a black powder in it from the pocket of her red dress and walked over to the counter to grab a cup from the cupboard.

"Alix, boiling water please." Maritill asked as she measured the amount of the black powder and then poured it in the cup.

"Aye." He already had some at the ready.

Maritill poured the hot water in the cup and the black powder swirled to envelop the water with its color. The stench that followed was indescribable.

Gilguga groaned at the familiar foul smell and Alix cursed under his breath. The pale boy suddenly lost any color he had left and ran outside. Maritill waited until the hot substance cooled enough and then walked over and bend down, cupping her daughters chin in her hand and pushing the cup to Gilguga's lips.

Gilguga hated the taste and smell of it, the way it would make her feel like shit for almost a day, but it did help with her headaches. She parted her lips and her mother poured it into her mouth. The fluid was as icky as ever, but Gilguga knew it was better than the headache drumming from all side in her head.

When she drank it all, Gilguga gagged. But it worked, she felt the constant beating in her head subside to a soft hum in the background and as she opened her eyes, the light didn't stab them. "Mother, I love you." Gilguga swooned gratefully, still sitting in her spot.

"I love you to," Her mother's smile turned amused as she stood straight, cupping her own cheek with her hand. "but whatever should become of you, my love?"

Gilguga didn't answer, because she didn't have any. She didn't need to become anyone else than she was now. She was fine with that.

"Every four days, love, every four days." Her mother chided sweetly.

"I forgot it was today." Gilguga shrugged and leaned forward onto her legs, hugging them tightly. She finally could see her mother's new outfit, it was a bright red A-lined dress with lots of layers and flowery patterns at the top. Small glittering gems decorated the neckline and sleeves.

Gilguga didn't tend to compare herself to other women, there never was a need to, but as the daughter of her mother, she couldn't help herself. In her mind, her mother was the most beautiful woman, still untouched by age.

"You look beautiful, momma."

"Thank you, my love. I sewed one for you as well." Maritill said, giving her dress a twirl. Gilguga doubted she would look as good, considering her more boyish physique. "But I have to ask love, where did you go?"

"Pro'bably bin out fookin' an' drinkin' again." Alix grumbled quietly.

Both Gilguga and Maritill ignored him.

"South, where I spend the night with...ahh...oh well, and then Innid grabbed me for work. Then there was this unbelievably tall man, really tall, but when we came to his house, the doors were incredibly tiny. And then this morning I had to wor,-"

The flapdoor burst open, Erak's black head poking through.

"Maritill, the people are waitin'."

And indeed, the noise that was produced from the front of the tavern were people making a demand for entertainment.

"Oh, right!" Her mother said as if she had forgotten. She looked at her daughter as sternly as she could. "Go to straight to bed, Alix will make you dinner, I'll have Bert bring you lots of water. Sleep well my love."

And her mother was gone.

Shakily, Gilguga got to her feet, the crowd cheering in the background as her mother began her performance. She could already feel the after effects of her medication kick in. But the lightheaded, nauseousness, the sense of something lost, was always better than any migraine in the world.


	5. Chapter 4

4.

Darius took a swig of his wine. He eyed his younger brother warily, who was surround by a crowd, boasting about... _something_. Darius suppressed a sigh.

The wine warmed his throat and stomach, and considering he would have to attend this celebration unwillingly, perhaps he would drink himself silly...maybe not.

A moment ago, he had been engaged in a dreadful conversation with some tribal men, a clan far up north of a now Noxian region. After a somewhat slow back and forth about the many wars they fought, the men had left.

Darius finally caught Dravens eye and gave ' _the look_ ', which was met with indifference.

That'll have to do for now.

Darius leaned back against the wall and glanced out of the window on his left. From here he could see the garden, the only garden, inside the walls of the Institute. It had high hedges and fountains and the ugliest statues he'd ever seen. Probably Demacian, though that was of course completely unbiased.  
Beyond that, Ionian bombs colored the sky one by one, making a noise a kin to the sound of a ram against the gate of a city wall. This noise strangely calmed him more than the music being played or the wine he was drinking. After another explosion, the crowd outside the walls shouted loudly in celebration.  
Darius turned his attention back to the ballroom to find himself no longer alone at the wall next to the window.  
A young woman dressed in a flurry bright red dress was about a feet or two away from him. The sudden close proximity had him tense up. The young woman glanced up at him, almost shyly. But then she turned and smiled almost apologetically.  
"Sorry, too close?"  
Before he could say anything, she sidestepped to the right and bumped with her hip against the table next to them.  
"Woops."  
Darius considered leaving, but didn't. This was his spot after all.  
The young woman didn't say anything further, content to sip at her own glass of wine and looking at the crowd of champions and summoners.  
She looked tired.  
"Everyone looks tired." She commented dryly.  
Surprise ran through him and the young woman looked up at him in question.  
"Don't you think so?"  
 _Ah._ Darius relaxed.  
He quickly glanced at the crowd, indeed, most summoners looked dead tired.  
"You're new." Darius stated.  
Her brow creased.  
"Hmmm, almost a year now? But I guess you could still say I'm new if you want."  
This somewhat held his interest.  
"And your specialty?"  
"Wouldn't you like to know that."  
The mischievous glint her eye and the wide spread smile with which she said it had him reevaluate her once more. But this time in the way her dress fit her small waist and clung to her hips.  
She turned to face him, leaning on her shoulder and taking her drink in her other hand.  
"Gilguga." She said, stretching out her hand for a shake.  
Darius was somewhat distracted by her odd name, but grasped her hand anyway for a brief shake.  
"Darius."  
Recognition danced in her eyes, but knowing who he was didn't seem to scare her off. That didn't happen often.  
He stepped a little closer to her, so he could hover over her.  
"So tell me, Gikuga, what brought you to the Institute?"

" _Gil_ - _gu_ -ga" She corrected him playfully and then shrugged. "Nothing real special, I just wanted to learn magic."

Darius wasn't going to bother with another attempt at pronouncing her name, but her statement raised his brow skeptically.

"Couldn't you do that elsewhere?"

Gilguga smiled and looked at her cup.

"Probably."

There was a sudden change of music, which made the both of them look up at the crowd. Until now, the music had been quite mellow, more suited for gatherings such as these, where the focus laid entirely on socialization. But now it played at a brisk tempo, the volume blasting the sound of words to the background.

"Care to join me on the dance floor?" Gilguga asked, clearly excited.

"No." Darius said curtly.

But the young woman only grinned at him some more.

"Wanna go dance elsewhere?"

The glint was back in her eye and he felt a need rise in him. It had been quite sometime since he last 'danced' with a woman. He glanced at his younger brother for moment, seeing him grab a girl by the ass and laughing.

To hell with it.


End file.
